Al Djazair and Tunis album, 1881

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Summary

Creators:
Al-Wahhāb, Abdu Rabbih
Abstract:
The album, compiled by a person identified as Abdu Rabbih al-Wahhāb, contains photographs of the Maghreb region of North Africa. The first half of the album features views of Algeria and Tunisia, while the second half is devoted to portraits of North Africans. These are primarily studio portraits of women from various ethnic groups, although some male occupational portraits, as well as portraits of dignitaries such as the Agha and Califa of Ouargla are included.
Extent:
1 album(s) (107 photographs)
Language:
Collection material is in Arabic and Judeo-Arabic.
Preferred citation:

Al Djazair and Tunis album, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Accession no. 2001.R.20.

http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa2001r20

Background

Scope and content:

The album contains 107 albumen photographs of the Maghreb region of North Africa. The first half of the album features views of Algeria and Tunisia taken in and around Tlemcen, Algiers, Biskra, Blida, BĆ©jaĆÆa, El Kantara, Carthage, Lambessa, and Ouargle. There are images of mosques, tombs, and palaces, as well as local neighborhoods and streets. Natural sites, such as gorges, oases, and desert areas are also depicted, as are views of Roman ruins. The second half is devoted to portraits of North African peoples. These are primarily studio portraits of women from various ethnic groups, although some male occupational portraits, as well as portraits of dignitaries such as the Agha and Califa of Ouargla are included. Many of the sitters are identified by name. A few scenes of daily life showing coffee houses, shops, markets, and street life are interspersed among the portraits.

The album was seemilngly compiled from a North African perspective, as only a few images containing portions of French buildings allude to a western presence. This fact, along with the album's elaborate box and covers, suggests that it may have been compiled for a high ranking official or wealthy North African.

The photographs are unsigned and the photographer(s) have not been identified.

The covers of the album are made of carved wood and tooled and painted leather set into brass backings and closed with brass hinges; decorations are in a North African artisanal style comprising calligraphic and geometric elements. On the front cover a tugra (i.e. in the style of an Ottoman ruler's signature) written in a combination of colloquial and classical Arabic reads: Algiers / Tunis. Do not look at the beauty of appearances, look at your deeds. Appearance is not as important as the inner self.

The first sura of the Qur'an is inscribed in the center of the brass inner cover: I start with the name of God; and in the border: In the name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful.

The title page reads: Author: Abdu Rabbih al-Wahhāb - Fernand tunisi baldati min Kusa [?] (called Gabriel the Christian, in the year 1881). The date of compilation is significant in that 1881 marked the end of over three centuries of Ottoman rule in the Maghreb.

The album is housed in a carved wooden box. Carved on the box cover, also as a tugra, are the names of two brothers, Kheireddine and Arrouj (Hayreddin Barbarossa and OruƧ Reis), infamous sixteenth-century corsairs.

The titles of the individual photographs are from the captions written on the mounts. Most captions are in Arabic; some mounts bear Judeo-Arabic captions as noted; a few images are uncaptioned and titles for these were devised by the archivist. The Arabic captions were translated by Karim Boughida and David Brafman. The Judeo-Arabaic captions were translated by Jona Sabir.

Biographical / historical:

The title page lists a person known as Abdu Rabbih al-Wahhāb as the "author" of the album. This may be a pseudonym or fictitious name.

Acquisition information:
Acquired in 2001.
Processing information:

Processed and cataloged by Beth Ann Guynn in 2001. Finding aid encoded by Linda Kleiger and Guynn. The finding aid was updated by Guynn in 2021.

Arrangement:

Arranged in a single series: Series I. Al Djazair and Tunis Album.

Physical location:
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Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open for use by qualified researchers.

Terms of access:

Contact Library Reproductions and Permissions.

Preferred citation:

Al Djazair and Tunis album, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Accession no. 2001.R.20.

http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa2001r20

Location of this collection:
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles, CA 90049-1688, US
Contact:
(310) 440-7390
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